Latest market data

Stock search

If your New Year's resolutions include trashing your BlackBerry,
you're not alone.

As many as 60 percent of users at small companies plan to
exchange their BlackBerry phone over the next 12 months for
another platform such as Apple's iPhone or Google's Android,
according to a new report from Boulder, Colo.-based
research firm Enterprise Management Associates. Some 30
percent of users at larger, enterprise-size companies are
expected to make the same change, the report says.

"If you look at the amount of adoption of Android and iPhones --
devices that didn't exist a few years ago -- that shows that this
trend [of declining use of BlackBerry phones for business] has
been going on but is accelerating now," says EMA managing
research director Steve Brasen, who wrote the report.

The report shows 52 percent of users at larger companies (10,000
employees or more) primarily use a BlackBerry for work, while
only 36 percent said they plan to still be using a BlackBerry
within the next year. At smaller companies, (fewer than 500
employees) only 16 percent said they primarily use a BlackBerry
phone. Of those, 7 percent said they'll be using one next year.

The report -- which surveyed end-users as well as business
information technology managers -- says only 16 percent of users
are "completely satisfied" with their BlackBerry phones, compared
to 44 percent for the iPhone and 34 percent for Android. "The
impression we have from the research data points to a lack of
availability of business-related applications [among BlackBerry
users]," Brasen says.

Personal preference is another factor. "We also noted several
cases where end-users were carrying two smartphones: a BlackBerry
for work and another type of phone for their personal purposes,"
he says. "They don't want to use the BlackBerry for personal
reasons. But, who really wants to carry around two
smartphones?"

Last week, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion experienced a
massive service
outage that affected millions of users in the U.S., Europe,
the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. RIM
said the blackout was caused by a "core switch failure" that
generated a backlog of messages.

Meanwhile, EMA's report says small businesses are primarily
supported by Android (43 percent) and iPhone devices (27
percent). Over the next 12 months, 50 percent of small business
smartphone users say they expect to use the Android platform,
while 29 percent plan to use an iPhone.

"Android is particularly strong in smaller organizations due to
the relatively low cost of the devices," the report says. "Since
the Android platform is available on a variety of different
physical devices offered by a host of different manufacturers,
competition in the marketplace drives down overall prices of
Android devices and encourages the availability of some
lower-cost smartphone options."

What type of smartphone do you use for your
business? Why? Let us know in the comments section
below.